Phil stared at her. “I’m with Grant. Who the hell are you?”
Dana shook her head. “Hurry up and put his uniform on so we can get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The sun sank below the horizon, painting the clouds above a soft pink and coaxing the sky into ever-darkening shades of purple and gray.
Aidan’s nerves jangled as they strode toward the front of the building.
This had to work. It had to. But holy hell, he was worried it wouldn’t.
He wore a military uniform General Lane had provided. There seemed to be a lot of decorations on it, so Aidan supposed that meant he was posing as an officer. Heather walked on his left, carrying a briefcase. Zach walked on his right. Darnell walked on the other side of him, carrying a briefcase in one hand and a bulging leather bag in the other. All wore military uniforms and were armed.
Behind them, actual army soldiers handpicked by General Lane stuck close, more heavily armed—Tim, Wayne, Jess, and three others. Apparently they all had been with General Lane when Heather, Ethan, and Seth had clued him in to immortals and vampires and were committed to keeping the secret. General Lane did not doubt the soldiers’ loyalty. Aidan didn’t either after reading their minds. All were fiercely loyal to the general. And all were surprisingly loyal to Seth, because Tim’s daughter would’ve died of cancer if Seth hadn’t healed her.
Lisette, étienne, Krysta, and Sean followed, also garbed in military uniforms.
Chris Reordon and Seconds Brodie, Tracy, and Nicole brought up the rear.
In front of them all, General Lane strode forward in long, ground-eating strides beside General Gershom—aka Seth.
As soon as Aidan had seen how large their group would be, he had objected, thinking it would give them away.
But Heather had put his mind at ease. “Generals are like America’s royalty,” she had informed him. “It’s very common for them each to have a substantial entourage that accompanies them wherever they go. Their own driver. A security detail. Sometimes a police escort. A secretary. A coterie of various and assorted other assistants who do everything from iron the general’s pants to manage his communications equipment. Since we’re supposedly accompanying two generals, this is pretty much what would be expected.”
Aidan glanced at Zach. Does Gershom bring an entourage like this when he comes here? he asked telepathically. Zach had read enough minds to have seen it if Gershom had.
I’m not sure, Zach responded, eyes forward. Either he’s found some stooges to serve as his entourage or he mind-controlled everyone here into believing an entourage accompanied him, because they saw nothing unusual in his actions.
As the generals approached, the soldiers guarding the front entrance snapped salutes, which General Lane and General Gershom returned. The soldiers opened the doors for them so swiftly the two generals never broke stride.
Inside, a man with a lot of decorations on his uniform approached them with a few men of lower rank. All saluted.
“General Gershom.” When he turned to General Lane, his eyebrows flew up. “General Lane. I wasn’t aware that you—”
General Gershom cut the man off. “I brought General Lane into the loop to help clean up your mess, Nelson.”
Nelson stiffened. “What mess?”
“The mess,” General Gershom barked, “that landed a fucking self-proclaimed reporter for a conspiracy-theorist website on General Lane’s doorstep, asking him to confirm that this is a military installation that conducts experiments on American citizens.”
Nelson paled. “What?”
General Gershom snapped his fingers.
Darnell set his bags down, removed a large iPad from his briefcase, then straightened. After folding the cover back, he tapped the glass, then turned it to face Nelson.
The bright screen illuminated an article posted on a conspiracy-theorist website the network had manufactured to look so real that the article appeared to have been shared on social media thousands of times. Whatever that meant.
Nelson’s face mottled with fury. “Son of a bitch!”
Darnell regarded him stoically. “It’s trending.”
Aidan didn’t know what that meant but guessed by the officer’s apoplectic expression that it was bad news.
General Gershom waved a hand. “No one leaves without my permission until we’ve identified the source of the security breach.” He motioned to Darnell. “My team will need access to your communications hub and your servers to determine whether this was a result of a hack or was leaked from the inside.”
“Yes, sir. Immediately, sir.” Nelson waved to his men, who promptly picked up Darnell’s bags and escorted him, étienne, Krysta, Heather, Chris, and Nicole away.
“I’ve made arrangements,” General Gershom continued, “to transport the special cargo stored here to another facility.”
“But sir…”
Aidan shifted anxiously as the conversation proceeded with General Lane and General Gershom taking turns issuing orders the others leapt to obey.
This was taking too long. At least it felt like it was taking too long. What if those bastards were already shackling Dana to an operating table so they could autopsy her?
Stop panicking. Zach spoke in his head while the generals continued to turn the place on its ear. All is going according to plan. A few more minutes and you can see her. She’s all right. And you need to keep a lid on your emotions so your eyes don’t glow.
Aidan drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
At least the real Gershom wasn’t present. That would have been a disaster—to walk inside with a faux General Gershom only to discover the real thing waiting for them.
A soldier abruptly turned and motioned for them to follow him. “This way.”
General Gershom followed him, Aidan and Sean on his heels.
Though Zach and Lisette stayed behind to aid General Lane, half of General Lane’s men accompanied Aidan’s group.
The installation’s soldier took them down one corridor, then another and through two security checkpoints.
Heather had been right. These men really did react as though General Gershom were royalty, acceding to anything he asked and offering him the utmost deference and respect. Not one of them questioned or hesitated to obey his orders.
No doubt the real Gershom lapped that shite up since he seemed to have delusions of grandeur.
Or just plain delusions.
When they turned the next corner, Aidan’s heart leapt.
Three soldiers carrying automatic weapons approached them, a small female in their midst. Clad in a too-big jumpsuit, she limped a bit on bare feet with her hands secured behind her back.
Dana.
Her eyes lit up when they met his. Aidan. The thought came through loud and clear, accompanied by joy and relief.
Then she looked at the tall man beside him, and all color fled her face. Oh shit. Gershom!
It’s okay, he hastened to assure her.
He captured you, too? she asked.
No, sweetheart. It isn’t the real Gershom.